Voice in the Dark
by whitem
Summary: Re-written story from CPNEB's KP-TZ2.  Kim receives a very strange message over her Kimmunicator.  The Epilogue is now posted, and the story is complete.
1. Prologue

Hey there everyone! Before you start reading this story, I wanted to give you a little bit of history here. I originally wrote this story for a project that the Late Great CPNEB had called KP-TZ2, and it's a collection of 'Twilight Zone' type of stories that concerned Kim Possible and friends. It was sort of a "Middleton Files" kind of thing, sort of like "The X-Files".

A while after I posted my story called "Voice in the Dark", I was approached by a rather precocious (I think she was 11 years old at the time) writer by the name of kt, of JAKT fame. KT had asked if they could edit the story and add a little bit to it to give the story a little more 'pop'. After asking CPNEB if this was OK with him since the story was part of his project, he said "Go for it".

Time passed, and recently I received a message from kt saying that she still wanted to do this. In a span of only two or three days, kt had taken my story and improved on it GREATLY! What you are about to read is the result of our working together, which was an experience in itself. (just kidding kt!)

If you want, you can read the original by going the Author Page for KP-TZ2, and selecting the story by the same title, "Voice in the Dark".

The story will be posted in 5 parts, with a few days in between postings. I say a 'few' days, as I'm not entirely sure of the posting schedule, but it will be posted in its entirety before Halloween.

Both kt and I hope y'all enjoy it…

Disclaimer: As always, neither kt or I own any of the characters involved that are from the Kim Possible show…

Voice in the Dark

Prologue

Rain, Rain, Rain. It had been steadily raining on and off every night for an entire week in Middleton during October, and it was supposed to be corn mazes, haunted houses, hot chocolate, and scary stories. Instead, this evening had started out like the rest of the other wet ones… boring. Right now Kim wished she could slip out and go on a mission for someone, but the Kimmunicator was silent.

No one calling, no one beeping, just the pitter-patter of a light rain against the window and the nights homework in front of her. Kim leaned her head back against her desk chair and stared out her window into the black night-sky hoping that time would pass faster. Instead, she sat in silence, time moving even slower than before. Fortunately for her it happened to be a Wednesday, and she had only a small amount of homework to do for the next day, but for some reason it seemed to be harder than usual… a whole lot harder.

For Physics class she had to calculate the volume of a five gallon fish tank, and figure at what pressure the water would come out if a ¼ inch hole were drilled 2 inches from the bottom. It gave her fits for about two hours, and she was almost to the point of calling Wade for help. In the end she toughed it out and was able to work out the answer herself, showing all of her work.

Smiling she was glad she didn't need her Computer Wizard's help, but then she remembered that Ron had the same assignment and poor Wade was probably banging his head against his computer keyboard trying to explain it to her blond best friend. A silent snicker escaped her lips at the thought.

Thank goodness the second bit of homework wasn't as intense, but she had to really think about it. In the past two weeks, the class had been reading Moby Dick, and now that the book was finished, they had to make a comparison of Captain Ahab to any politician of their own choice from Mr. Barkin's list. The individuals he chose were so confrontational in their beliefs that it hurt just to think about them for they had taken very strong stances on very confrontational issues. She knew that her paper might get some serious ridicule for her comparison, but she had chosen to compare the doomed Captain's adventure to Al Gore and his stance on Global Warming. The paper wasn't due until Friday, but she was able to at least get the rough draft finished before finally stifling a long drawn out yawn. At least she was to the point that it could be cleaned up and finalized Thursday evening.

With a bit of a smile Kim turned off her laptop and thought about what Ron was going to do on his paper, but quashed her thoughts almost immediately. 'Better not even go there. That would totally be a cornucopia of disturbing events.'

Exhausted, with bleary emerald eyes and slightly disheveled auburn hair from pulling and twisting it on various occasions trying to make her brain work, she stumbled into bed just before midnight. She knew her alarm would wake her up in time to take a shower in the morning, so she didn't even bother to undress, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

About two hours later, something woke her from her deep sleep. It almost sounded like her Kimmunicator on the nightstand, but in her sleep-fogged mind, something didn't sound right. The normal tone of the unit came out a bit garbled, almost as if it were recorded on an old cassette tape, which was now playing like the batteries in the player were running down and stretching into long drawn out sounds.

bwweeep

bweeep

beep

dwweeep

"Huh?" She said groggily. "Whazzat?" Her befuddled mind didn't realize that the noise was actually coming from her communications device.

Two small bursts of static came out, and then something very strange happened. It almost sounded like a little girl's voice, but it was fading in and out, mixed with the static. "Hello? (static) Is anybody out there? (static)… Please… Can anyone hear me?"

Kim reached over and flopped her hand on the unit, dragged it over next to her head and unconsciously set it on the pillow. Even with her brain not "firing on all cylinders", she had reacted automatically and reached out for the unit, dragging it over to her. She answered in sleep slurred words, "Wade… is that you?"

Apparently the voice on the other side didn't hear her, as the voice spoke again. "Please… (static) can anyone help me?"

At this point the word "Help" caused Kim's mind to finally kick start itself somewhat, and her eyes flew open. However, her fingers didn't quite do what she was telling them, and she fumbled with the buttons trying to respond.

"Hello?" She said, sounding more awake. "Who is this? What's wrong? How can I help?" By now Kim was sitting up in her bed wide awake and looking down at the back lit screen of the Kimmunicator, which was filled with nothing but white noise.

The voice spoke again, but it was fading out. "I need… (static) help! Please! I… (static) can you hear me! I'm losing …. (static)"

Brushing a strand of hair from her eyes that had fallen while she tried to listen to the plea for help, Kim desperately pressed the call button, and tried to answer back. "I'm here! I'm Kim Possible! Can you hear me? Please let me know who you are so I can help you!"

Static was her only response. She dropped herself back onto the pillow and sighed in frustration, listening to the static that was still coming from the speaker.

Then without warning, Wade's voice came out of the speaker at a very loud volume, making her jump and she let out a small "eep" in surprise.

"Kim… why are you calling me just after 2 o'clock in the morning? I was having a really good dream about… well, you don't need to know… but what's up?"

Her finger mashed down on the volume control trying to quickly turn it down as she had it cranked all the way up while trying to hear the call for help. "Wade! Did… did you hear or record any of what just happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Kim. I just received your call a few seconds ago, and was just now able to respond." A strange look came across his face. "Kim? Are… you OK? You look a bit… frazzled?"

It was at this point that Kim realized that her hair must have looked like a whirling dervish had hit it after falling asleep the way she did. She tried to push some of it down as it was sticking out in all directions.

"But… I just had a call from what sounded like a little girl asking for help. You… don't you have the recording of this on your system?"

Wade's fingers flew over his keyboard as he typed for a few seconds as he checked the communications log before replying. "That's strange…" He said with a furrowed brow, which worried Kim. Her tech guru rarely said those words. "For 21.3 seconds there isn't any telemetry data coming from your Kimmunicator. For those few seconds it's as if… as if… it were just… dead."

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 1

First let me say Thank-you to all who reviewed the Prologue: Earl Allison, Mr. Wizard, CajunBear73, , AmericanGecko, Invader Johnny, screaming phoenix, and Muzzlehatch… As always all those who have read and reviewed ROCK!

Disclaimer: Once again, the KP characters are not owned by me in any fashion whatsoever...

Chapter 1

"That's just so strange…" Wade said again as he rubbed his still furrowed brow, which worried Kim even more. Wade rarely repeated himself. In fact he never repeated himself unless he was tutoring Ron. Saying the same words again he started scratching his head, "Darn it Kim. I've checked and rechecked my records a dozen times and for those 21.3 seconds there isn't any telemetry data coming from your Kimmunicator. I'll say it again… It's as if… it were just… dead."

"Can you maybe find out what might have happened? I mean, I would swear that I heard someone."

"Tell you what (yawn), Kim… I'll start a level 2 diagnostics on your Kimmunicator, and also on my end. If anything at all is wrong, that should find it. The only thing is…" He started to say.

"It's going to take some time." Kim said, finishing his sentence while breathing out an exasperated sigh.

"You know me too well Kim. I'll get started on it right away. I'll send you a back-up Kimmunicator, as the one you're talking on now won't work since the diagnostic routine takes up almost all of the systems' memory to run. Your backup will be at school in the morning."

"As always Wade… you rock. Talk to you tomorrow. I mean in the morning. No, I don't know what I mean." Kim knocked herself on the forehead with her knuckles.

"Try saying 'Goodnight Wade.'" Her tech guru said with a smile.

"Goodnight Wade." She responded with a smile.

After Wade replied, "Goodnight Kim," she signed off, and saw the screen go black except for the words "Temporarily Off-Line" in white lettering.

"Huh… guess Wade wanted to get started right away." She set her unit back on the nightstand, laid back down, and fell asleep right away.

…x x x x…

The next morning Ron arrived at the front door… just like clockwork. You could set your clock by that time and that's what Kim's dad usually did. After a quick knock, he opened the door and walked in, making a bee-line towards the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table getting ready to have breakfast. "Hola Possible Clan… How are things this Bon-Diggity day?"

His nose sniffed the air. "Mmmmm… is that eggs and bacon I smell?"

"Why, yes it is, Ron." Anne Possible said, smiling behind her cup of coffee while standing against the counter. "It's even made with turkey so it has less fat and cholesterol." She eyed her husband, who harrumphed and brought his paper back up in front of his face.

"Cool… My mom has started to cook more things with turkey now, too. She said we needed to stop eating so much pork. Since… well… you know… we're Jewish and all. She said it was something about getting back to our roots."

Ron sat down next to Kim, and Mrs. Dr. P. set a plate of three over-easy eggs, a large portion of turkey bacon, and hash browns in front of him. He immediately chopped up the bacon and eggs, and mixed everything on his plate together into a big pile of mush. "Got any ketchup?" He asked, and Kim's mom set a bottle down next to his plate with a perplexed look on her face wondering just what the blond boy was going to do.

"You know Ronald; using ketchup on your meal could be interpreted as a personal insult to the chef." She said, and Ron grabbed the bottle and squirted it over the entire mixture. He then shoveled half of it into his mouth and downed the portion in one large gulp. Everyone just sat and stared at what he had just done while Kim's Dad continued reading the newspaper. However, behind the paper the poor man was cringing. Just the thought of that mixture going down Ron's throat was like igniting J-200, and it was really grinding his beans.

Feeling himself being watched, Ron stopped and looked up at everyone. "What? It's good this way. You should try it. Even a bon-diggity chef would realize that."

"Yuck…" The tweebs said in unison, as they entirely lost their appetites. Pushing themselves away form the table, and grabbing their backpacks they chorused in unison, "We're off to school. Bye…" They took off without another word.

Ron looked back at the remaining Possibles, and his two favorite red heads just gently shook their heads with knowing smiles. Silently Ron offered Kim a bite from his plate, but she just shook her head and said "No Thank you".

By now Rufus had woke up and popped out of Ron's pocket, jumping onto the table. He eyed what was on his master's plate, and made a face. He also did not like what he was looking at. "Bleah…"

"You guys don't know what you're missing." Ron said with another mouthful, and swallowed, following it with a generous gulp of orange juice.

"Would you like a blueberry muffin, Rufus?" Anne asked, and the little naked mole rat nodded his head in approval.

Kim looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh my gosh! We're going to be late! C'mon Ronster, let's go!"

She grabbed him by a wrist, and with his other hand Ron grabbed the plate and dumped the rest of his food into his mouth. Rufus quickly jumped into his pocket while hanging on to the muffin he was given earlier for dear life. He wasn't going to go without breakfast today.

Kim and Ron made it into their first class, but just barely. They entered Mr. Barkin's Social Studies class just as the second bell started to ring, and as Mr. B got up from his desk to begin his lecture.

…x x x x…

Their first class was pretty much uneventful, and now the two friends were standing in front of Kim's locker with the door open waiting for the next bell when their friend Monique walked up. "Hey Kim… Hey Ron." She said politely in greeting.

"Hey Monique…" Kim and Ron said together almost at the same time.

"Jink's! You two owe me a soda!" The young African American said with a smile.

"Yeah, we owe you a lot of soda's," replied Ron.

Before they could say anything else to each other, a voice came across the intercom. It was the school's secretary, Mrs. Crabapple. "Kimberly Possible… Please come to the main office."

"Oh… I bet they have the back-up Kimmunicator that Wade sent me."

"Why did you have to get another one, Kim?" Ron asked. "The other one break? If it did… it wasn't me." Kim was silent, looking at her friend and partner in Missions. "This time…"

The red head explained while the three of them walked to the school's main office. "Last night I got a strange call, and Wade couldn't figure out what it was. He said there might be something wrong, so he's running a diagnostic on it to try to find out what the problem might be. As a result, he had to send me a second one while the other is temporarily out of commish." She didn't want to give too much detail yet, as she herself was starting to have a few doubts as to what she had heard.

They walked into the office, and there behind a large counter stood Mrs. Crabapple. "This arrived for you early this morning, Miss Possible." She said gruffly, handing the small box that contained Kim's Kimmunicator to her. "This isn't your personal Post Office, you know."

"Sorry Ma'am." Kim meekly replied while taking the unit out of its box, and stuffing it into her pocket "It won't happen again, I swear."

"See that is doesn't." She said with a huff, and the three teens walked out of the office, hearing Mrs. Crabapple muttering something about "teenagers these days… no respect for their…"

"So you going to tell me about this call you had last night?" Ron asked, and was answered by the first bell for their next class. Monique started to separate from Kim and Ron since she had a different class to go to.

"I'll tell you about it later Ron. How about Friday evening when we go do something? But for now, we better get to class. This being the last week as juniors, I don't want any more class tardies. I want to end this year on a high note." She turned and called out to her GF. "I'll talk to you at lunch Monique, OK?"

"See you then, GF." Was the response as she backed away from them waving.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and cheerleading practice was almost pleasant for Kim. Bonnie wasn't in her usual snarky mood, and was actually doing whatever Kim asked her to. She even called practice off a bit early since everyone had hit all their cues, and had performed a new routine flawlessly.

…x x x x…

That evening after supper, Kim put the finishing touches on her paper comparing Al Gore and Captain Ahab, and printed out the final copy she was going to hand in. Seems in the end that this pair have the same delusions of grandeur, she thought to herself.

Once again Kim couldn't help but shake her head at the topic she had chosen, knowing that Mr. Barkin would make his own comments after reading it. For some reason Mr. Barkin idolized Mr. Gore, and would voice his own opinion whenever he could about the dangers of global warming.

When Kim looked at the time, she couldn't believe it was almost 11 o'clock. It was earlier than the previous night, but she hadn't realized that it had taken her that long to finish up. At least this time she wasn't as tired, and was able to actually get ready for bed. With light sweat pants and an old crop top, Kim slipped between her sheets about a quarter after.

"Oops… almost forgot." She said and quickly got out of bed, grabbed the replacement Kimmunicator from her pants and set it by the other one on her nightstand, which was still running its diagnostic.

"Guess it's taking longer than Wade originally thought." She said to herself as she snuggled in once more. She reached over, shut off the small lamp, and closed her eyes.

…x x x x…

Bweeep

Bweeep

beep

Dweeep

"Huh…?" Kim said groggily as her eyes struggled to open.

Bweeep Bweeep beep Dweeep

It was happening again! Kim's eyes snapped open, and her hand landed on the Kimmunicator. She immediately smashed down on the button, but nothing happened. The drawn out sound of her Kimmunicator was heard once more.

Bweeep Bweeep beep Dweeep

Kim looked down at the unit in her hand, and the screen was black, save for the words "Temporarily Off-Line". She had the wrong unit.

Quickly she grabbed the other Kimmunicator, and hit the 'Receive' button a bit lighter than before. Again there was static like the previous night, but not quite as bad.

"Hello…? Is anyone there?" It was the same voice Kim had heard the previous night.

The teen hero immediately answered back. "Yes! I can hear you! Can you hear me?"

The voice started to fade a bit, but then came back. It sounded almost… excited. "Yes… I can hear you just fine. C… (static) you help me?"

"Yes I would like to help! Can you tell me your name?" By now Kim realized that she was almost yelling, and quickly lowered her voice since she didn't want to wake anyone else in the house. She was also able to turn the volume down a bit on the unit and was still able to hear.

"It's Ginny… Ginny L… (static)"

"I'm sorry Ginny… I didn't catch your last name. Can you repeat it?"

"Larsen… Ginny Larsen…" The voice replied, sounding a bit clearer, but then a another burst of static sounded. "I… think I might be losing you again! I'm so scared! I need help!"

"Hold on Ginny!" Kim said urgently. "My name is Kim… Kim Possible. Please, tell me where you are so I can get to you."

"Did you say your name is Kim Possible? (static) I don't know who you are, (static) I hope you can help…"

The next burst of static was constant, and Kim frantically pressed the 'Receive' button, but to no avail. "Ginny?" She said urgently with her mouth close to the mike. "Ginny… I wish to help… Please… please respond…!" By now she was shaking the Kimmunicator, trying with all her might to will it to work.

Kim didn't realize that she also had almost a death grip on the unit, and her knuckles were white. She could hear the plastic creaking under the pressure, and immediately lessened her grip. After a few seconds of thinking, she mashed her thumb down on the call button, knowing what Wade's response was going to be.

Wades disheveled face appeared on the small screen. "Kim? It's the same time as last night. Why are you calling me again?"

"I had the call again Wade. But this time I was able to get a name. It's Ginny… Ginny Larsen."

"Hold on Kim… Hold on…" Her tech guru said while wiping sleep from his eyes. He typed a few commands onto his keyboard, and gave a small gasp. "It's the same thing as last night Kim. The telemetry data stream stopped at the exact same time, and the dead-time was for the exact same length of time… 21.3 seconds. This is just too bizarre. I don't see how you could have received any kind of transmission either. Are you sure you didn't dream this?"

The look on Kim's face told him that was bad thing to say. "I was not dreaming Wade! It was a little girl's voice. I know it… She sounded… no more than twelve, maybe thirteen years of age. She sounded so scared Wade, and she was asking for help… My help! So if you can do anything at all to get me reconnected with her, I would greatly appreciate it!"

"I'm… Sorry, Kim." Wade said, taken aback by her forcefulness. "I'll see what I can do, and get back to you in the morning… probably at school. OK? I'll also see if I can find anything on the name Ginny Larsen."

"OK Wade…" Kim said, calming down a bit. "Sorry for harshing on you like that. This is just so frustrating not being able to help someone who obviously needs it. I appreciate anything you can do. Goodnight." She disconnected, and lay back down with a huff.

She then heard a small shuffle on her steps, and Kim saw her mother's head pop up. "Is everything OK, Kimmie? Who were you talking to? Wade?"

"Sorry Mom… I didn't mean to wake anybody up. There's something strange going on with the Kimmunicator, and I guess it's just got me frazzled. Did I wake anyone else up?"

"I don't think so, Dear. Think you can go back to sleep? You know you have school tomorrow." Worry was etched on her mother's face.

"Yeah… I should be able to. 'Night… Sorry again for waking you."

Her Mom disappeared down the steps, and Kim laid back down thinking about the call from Ginny. She just couldn't get it out of her mind. After a few minutes, she fell back into a troubled sleep.

When morning arrived and her alarm went off, Kim's hand shot out to her Kimmunicator. "Ginny? Is that you?" She then realized that it was only her alarm, and reached over shutting it off.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 2

First let me say Thank-you to all those who reviewed the previous chapter: Invader Johnny, Earl Allison, , readerjunkie, CajunBear73, screaming phoenix, princessvmlg, Mr. Wizard, and Reader101w. And let me say thank-you to everyone who has continued to read this story! Y'all ROCK! Looks like I'll be posting this on somewhat of a schedule now, the last 2 chapters should be posted on the next two Wednesday nights / Thursday mornings. (That is if everything works out)

Disclaimer: Same as always, neither kt nor I have any legal connection with the KP characters…

Chapter 2

When Kim finally dragged herself out of bed the next morning, she knew that it was going to be a long day. It felt like she only had about three hours of good sleep. Her morning cup of hot chocolate with mini- marshmallows didn't even give her the energy boost it usually did from the sugar. Kim started to give actual consideration to start drinking coffee. As a result, through most of the day, she was very testy and down right grouchy.

…x x x x…

During their lunch hour, Kim, Ron and Monique were sitting at their usual table. Both Monique and Ron were at least making an attempt to eat what was on their trays, but resigned to just settling for the dessert and the small carton of milk. Kim stirred the unpleasant gray mass with her fork for the umpteenth time and looked at the remaining half of roll she'd nibbled on. The only piece of food that was actually completely missing from her tray was the small chocolate cupcake. Sighing, she realized she hadn't eaten that much. All Kim did was yawn once again, and continued to poke at everything on her plate.

She didn't even notice that the gray glob on her plate now seemingly shied away from her fork while she poked and prodded at everything else. To the keen observer "Mystery Meat" always seemed to have that unique ability, but it had never been proven in the laboratory.

Both Ron and Monique noticed her slightly erratic behavior, and so did Rufus, who scampered over next to her hand and placed a small paw on Kim's forearm in what he thought would be a comforting gesture. Her reaction was not what anyone expected.

"Rufus…" She spat out and brought the fork around with a snap of her wrist, catching some of the gray glop and splattering him in the chest with it. "Get away from my plate!"

Three sets of eyes looked at Kim in shock. Rufus slowly back away from Kim holding his front paws out in an easy manner as if he was backing away from a dangerous and rabid animal. When he reached Ron's tray, the little guy picked up a napkin and wiped himself off, looking over his shoulder, just in case Kim decided to come after him again.

"What up, Girlfriend?" Monique asked with a disapproving look on her face. "You've been on edge most of the day. In fact, when Mr. Barkin asked you about your book report earlier, I couldn't believe you told him it was another snore-fest."

Kim's emerald eyes continued to narrow and then suddenly relaxed. The deep furrows in her brow also started to lessen. She brought two fingers to the bridge of her nose and gave a slight squeeze. "I'm sorry, guys, Rufus. I just didn't sleep very well last night, and I guess it's been putting me a bit on edge. Kinda like the snarky comments I get from Shego when we're fighting."

"I'll say." Ron said under his breath, but Kim heard him and gave Ron her evil eye, making him cringe back into his seat.

"Is there anything you want to tell us Kim?" Monique asked with concern in her voice.

The redhead opened her mouth, took a breath as if to say something, but then closed it and pushed the air out of her nose. She wasn't sure whether to tell her two best friends about this just yet. She didn't have any information from Wade at this time, so she decided to wait for a while before saying something and risk being called crazy, or something even worse... like being accused of living in la la land.

…x x x x…

Even cheerleading practice didn't improve her attitude much, as things just kept getting worse. The routines weren't coming together, and everyone's timing seemed a bit off due to her own miscues. But what drove the final nail in the coffin was that she let herself be caught off-guard by none other than Bonnie.

While standing with pom-pom's in hand over her head, Kim's eyes were half lidded when Bonnie slammed into her with a hip-check that drove the red head into the nearby wall. It really didn't hurt much, but the blow to her pride sure took a hit as Bonnie added, "C'mon K… Get the lead out! Geez… You'd think the team Captain would be smart enough to get enough sleep so she would be more alert. I'm just glad we weren't working on the pyramid again." Bonnie knew something was up when Kim's response was not what she expected.

"(Yawn)… I'm sorry guys. I'll be more awake tomorrow. I promise." She then gave another yawn. "Let's call it a day, OK?"

Bonnie's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. For the second time in as many years she couldn't believe that Kim didn't have a snappy comeback.

"But tomorrow's Saturday, Kim." Tara said. "Boy, you really are out of it when you forget what day of the week it is."

"Oh yeah… Saturday's tomorrow," Kim said while stifling yet another yawn.

Still in half a daze, the auburn haired cheerleader was led away by the entire Cheer Squad into the dressing area with Bonnie out in front of everyone..

…x x x x…

After the girls showered and made sure that Kim was more awake than she was at practice, they were walking out of the locker room when the Kimmunicator went off. Sleepily, Kim answered with a barely audible "Go, Wade."

"The diagnostic is finished Kim." He said.

Kim's eyes suddenly lit up like fireworks on the Fourth of July as she launched numerous questions at him.

"What's the sitch?"

"Did you find out anything?"

"Was I right!"

"Did you find anything on Ginny Larsen yet?"

She finally finished with "Well… I'm waiting Mr. Wizard."

Kim's rapid fire questioning took Wade totally by surprise. It wasn't until he asked her to calm down that she noticed she was gripping the communications device very tightly. In fact, the ambient pressure readings on the case were up by a factor of twelve according to Wade's system. _Kim's definitely on an adrenaline rush_, he thought to himself.

Thinking for a second on how he was going to respond he started out slowly. "Well… the diagnostic didn't find anything wrong with either end of the communication link, but…"

It was the hesitation in Wade's voice that caught Kim's full attention. "But what Wade? Either there's something wrong, or there isn't."

This time Kim caught herself, and took a breath trying to calm her self down a bit. She continued to walk and talk at the same time, her total concentration centered on the Kimmunicator's view screen. "I'm sorry Wade… I didn't sleep well last night, and I guess I've been jumping down peoples' throats all day."

"I'll say…" She heard Ron say as he walked up besides her, making her jump a bit. "Man, Kim… you really are on edge. You sure you still wanna do something tonight? I mean, if you don't want to…"

"No Ron… it's cool. I'm still up for our usual Friday Night out." She paused to take a deep long breath again, while Wade added that he would get back to her when he had more information. Then he closed the connection to the Kimmunicator. Kim returned it to her pocket before she asked her best friend, "So what's the plan for tonight, anyway?"

"Miniature Golf?" Ron said with a raised eyebrow. "I hear they redesigned the last hole. Now it's a dragon that has a moving tail. You hit the ball in its mouth and the ball comes out the end of its tail, so you have to watch where it's pointing. I hear it can be quite challenging."

"What time?" Kim asked.

"How about 7:30?" Was Ron's response.

"Cool… That will give me some time to work on a few things. See you then…"

Kim started to walk off on her own, and Ron found himself trying to hurry and catch up. "What's the rush, Kim?"

"Sorry Ron… Guess I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"OK, see you about a quarter after 7 then?"

"Huh? For what?" She said with an almost confused look.

"Boy, you really are out of it Kim." Her blond friend said. "For Miniature Golf? Remember?"

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'll be ready. Should we meet at my place or yours?"

"Come on over to my place. Dad should be able to give us a ride."

"Great…"

That was the last word out of Kim's mouth, as she was entirely lost in thought, going over the last two night's events in her head. Over and over and over again she re-played every detail, every word, every action in slow motion to make sure she didn't miss a thing while Ron endlessly droned on about school and the day's challenges he'd had.

By the time her best friends monologue had finished she'd come up with no more answers than she previously had. By now the two teens had arrived at Kim's front door, so they said their good-byes. Ron then walked back to his house, grateful that Kim had provided a listening ear to his day's drama.

…x x x x…

As soon as Kim walked into the house, she looked at the time. It was almost 5:30. As she ambled into the kitchen, she saw that her Mom was fixing dinner already.

"Early dinner tonight Mom?" She asked.

"Yes, Kimmie… Your father and I have that Line-Dancing contest tonight. Remember? The last time we went, we were such a hit they wanted us to compete." Anne Possible actually sounded excited about what her and her husband had planned for the evening.

"Aaaannnd?" Kim asked.

"Yes Dear… we know." Her mom said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "We go by Wanda and Eugene Crumholtz. No relation to Kim Possible."

"Thanks again. You guys Rock… Wait… You don't need me to baby-sit the Tweebs tonight?"

"Nope…" Her dad said from the kitchen table. "They're going over to a friends for a sleep-over."

Kim breathed out a sigh of relief. Babysitting the Tweebs could be so the drama, and she really wanted the time to be by herself until she needed to go over to Ron's.

…x x x x…

The Tweebs had already gone over to their friends, so it was just Kim and her parents for dinner. They ate in relative silence, and then her parents left for the dance competition. She looked at the time again and saw that it was only 6:15.

While sitting on the couch in front of the TV, she pulled out her Kimmunicator and called Wade. "Hey Kim… Perfect timing. I was just about to call you."

"So did you find out anything on Ginny?" The young heroine asked.

"Not much. There are 3 families in Middleton with the last name of Larsen, but none of them have the name Ginny associated with them."

"Nickname?" Kim asked.

"I also did a search for the name Virginia Larsen, but that's where things get a bit weird." Her friend said from the small screen.

"How weird…" She said while tucking her legs underneath her on the couch.

"It's… an obituary, Kim."

"An obituary? But that means she would be…"

"Dead. Yeah, I know. But there are no other names that could be considered a variation on Ginny with the last name of Larsen. Looks like a dead-end Kim." The red head grimaced at the inappropriate phrase that Wade said without realizing.

"Can you give me the last known address of Virginia Larsen anyway?"

"What for?" Wade asked, not quite sure what Kim had in mind.

"It may not be the family I'm looking for, but I don't have any other leads. I don't suppose you have a ride?"

"No need. It's only about a quarter mile from where you live. You could walk there and back in no time at all."

…x x x x…

Kim verified the address that Wade had given her and walked up to the front of the house, carefully looking at it. It looked pretty normal as houses go. A front porch with railing, two-car garage, assorted trees and shrubbery… All pretty typical and nothing overtly threatening. Taking in a deep breath she marched up to the front door and rang the doorbell. There was a screen door in front of the main door, which opened up about 30 seconds after she had rung the bell.

"Yes? May I help you?" An older woman said in a friendly voice that welcomed her. She was no taller than Kim, and had long gray hair pulled up into a bun. Loose strands gracefully fell about her face. The lady almost reminded Kim of her Nana.

"I'm sorry Ma'am." Kim said. "But I was wondering if a girl named Virginia Larsen lives here?"

Immediately, the older woman's attitude went cold… ice cold… as if a nerve had been struck. All the feeling and happiness in the woman disappeared as an entirely different personality emerged. "I told you reporters before that that was a long time ago. I do not want to talk about it anymore. Now please, leave me alone!"

"But…" Kim started to say, but the door was slammed into her face, the sound punctuating the air with something Kim had rarely experienced, rejection. Taken aback, she pressed the doorbell once again, and knocked on the screen door.

Once again the woman appeared, but this time she was holding a baseball bat. "Look… I have very right to defend myself. If you leave now, I won't call the police."

"Wait…" Kim said quickly. "My name is Kim… Kim Possible, and I just wanted to ask about Ginny."

"What?" The old woman said, and dropped the ball bat to her side. "What did you just say?"

"I said I would just like to ask some questions about your daughter. She is your daughter, right?"

"You… you… just called her Ginny." The woman seemed to be flabbergasted.

"Yes… That's her name, isn't it?" By now a small niggle of a thought was starting to grow in the back of Kim's mind.

"She was the only one who called her self that…" The woman said with a shocked look on her face. She continued to stand behind the screen door just looking at the auburn haired teenager.

"May I come in?" Kim asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes… by all means, yes." The older woman unlocked the screen door and let Kim inside, who followed the old woman into what looked like a small living room with two easy chairs and a sofa.

"Please… have a seat." The old woman said as she sat in one of the easy chairs. Kim sat herself down in the other.

"Now, how did you know that Virginia called her self Ginny?" She asked as soon as Kim settled herself in.

"I…" Kim started to say.

A look of recognition suddenly passed over the old woman's features. "Land and Stars… You're Kimberly Possible, aren't you? You're the famous daughter of Dr's. James and Ann Possible aren't you."

"Yes, Ma'am, I am." Kim said, lowering her head a bit in humility.

"I'm so sorry about what happened earlier at the front door. You know how reporters are these days." Mrs. Larsen said with a look of humility.

"Yes, Ma'am, I do."

"Please, Kimberly, call me Dolores." She then paused and looked Kim over. "So why are you asking about my late daughter?"

"Well…" Kim started to say, but then realized just what Dolores had said. "Wait a minute, did you say… 'late' daughter?"

"Yes… Didn't you realize? Virginia has been dead for over 2 years."

Kim's head began to swim, and her eyes went wide. "This… but I… my Kimmunicator…"

"Dear…" Dolores said. "You're not making any sense. And you're as white as a sheet. Are you OK? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

A sudden chill passed over Kim, causing goose bumps to rise on her arms. She shuddered a bit, took a deep breath, and tried to will herself to calm down. She didn't want to sound crazy by telling this woman that she had received a call from her dead daughter on her Kimmunicator.

Thinking quickly Kim then said, "Can… can you tell me what happened?"

Dolores blinked, and then leaned back in her chair. "You really don't know, do you?" Kim shook her head. "Well, I don't wish to make this a long story, but basically, Virginia was kidnapped and killed a little over 2 years ago when she disappeared on her way home from school."

"Here in Middleton?" Kim asked. "I don't remember a kidnapping back then."

"Oh no, Dear. This was in Lowerton. Plus, it seems that kids are always disappearing these days, so it all seemed routine for the police. It took two days for the case to finally hit the news. After the police checked out a few leads, they were finally able to come up with someone, and discovered that it was a local man. Someone who lived just a few blocks from here, actually. He was an older 'gentleman', late 50's I believe. He had grabbed Virginia on her way home, and took her God knows where.

"It was during his interrogation at the police department, that something strange happened. He admitted to kidnapping Virginia, and he also said that she was dead and that he had done it himself. It was a full confession." By now, there were tears falling down Dolores' cheeks, yet she had a sad smile on her face.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to." Kim said.

"Maybe it's fate that you came here Kim. Maybe… maybe you… can find out where… where my little girl is." The older woman pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.

"Her body was never found?" Kim asked, astonished.

"No… You see, after this man confessed, he clammed up and wouldn't say anything else. And then… that evening there was a small riot in the Holding Cells, and this man was… killed. He died before they could get any more information out of him."

"I do remember that the riot was in the news." Kim said with a lowered voice. "I'm so sorry, Dolores. They… searched for her at least, right?"

"Yes… They searched for 2 days and found nothing." Again, the older woman dabbed at her eyes, and then looked at Kim with an almost pleading look. "Maybe you can find her? Find out what the 2-1-3 is about her?

"I'm… sorry?" Kim said taken aback by the strange question. "2-1-3? What do you mean?"

"Oh I'm sorry…" Dolores said through her lessening tears. "All this talk about Virginia brought back an old memory of her. She would always ask, 'What's the 2-1-3?' It was her way of asking 'What's the information?' You know, like 4-1-1?"

Kim nodded as she continued listening. _Why does that seem so familiar?_ She thought to herself.

"She was always a bit strange that way. When I asked her about it, she said that the numbers added up the same. You know what I mean?" Kim shook her head side to side, not completely understanding. "Add 4 and 1 and 1. What do you get? Six. Well, add 2 and 1 and 3, and you also get…"

"Six." Kim finished with a haunted expression that the older woman never noticed.

"Was there any other information you needed?" Dolores asked.

"No… That's all I needed. Thank you so much for telling me all this Dolores. I really appreciate it." By now Kim was starting to get out of her chair to leave.

"You're welcome, Kim. I do hope that this helps you. But tell me something? How is it you knew about Virginia in the first place? There hasn't been anything about her case in the last 2 years."

"A… friend told me about it." was all Kim could think to say.

"Huh…" Dolores replied, seemingly in deep thought.

"I really should be going, Dolores." Kim said, and noticed the clock on the wall behind the older woman, and saw that it was almost 8:15. She had missed the time she was to meet Ron by 45 minutes. _I'm sure he will understand_, Kim thought.

…x x x x…

Leaving the house with the additional information, Kim also had some more questions. Her mind was both reeling, and in a fog as she walked home. "There's no way I got a call from a dead girl, right?" She said aloud to no one.

When she got home, she never even thought about calling Ron to apologize for not making it to his house for Miniature Golf. All she could think about was the fact that something very strange was going on with her Kimmunicator.

Just as she lay in bed to try and get some sleep, at about 10:00, the Kimmunicator that had been running the diagnostics sounded its familiar chime.

"Sorry about calling you so late, Kim. You weren't asleep, were you?"

"No… I just found out some really strange information today, Wade."

"I did, too. You want to go first?"

"No… You can go first, Wade. So, what's the sitch?"

"This may be just some strange coincidence, but check this out. I went over the data again from the diagnostic. You actually were receiving a signal both times your unit went offline. It was a rotating signal, and that's why I couldn't detect it before. It rotated between 2.13 megahertz, 21.3 megahertz, and 213 megahertz. The signal was initiated on October 13th, at 2:13 in the morning, and it only lasted for 21.3 seconds exactly, each time."

Kim sat up in her bed staring at the small screen with her eyes wide and mouth hanging open like a hanger waiting for a 747.

"Kim?" Wade asked. "Are you all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

To be continued…

* * *

Things are getting quite interesting, aren't they?


	4. Chapter 3

First let me say Thank-you to all that read and reviewed the last chapter: Earl Allison, CajunBear73, readerjunkie, screaming phoenix, , Invader Johnny, princessvmlg, Katsumara, and Reader101w… Y'all Rock!

One thing I haven't done is state when this occurs during the series. It's early on, somewhere between Season 1 and 2.

My little Disclaimer thingy: Once again, don't own the KP characters…

Chapter 3

Kim's jaw worked up and down a couple times without making a sound, and after a few seconds of imitating a guppy, she was able to at least speak a few words. "I'll… talk… to you later… Wade." She clicked the unit off before Wade could say anything more.

Sitting on her bed, Kim stared at the blank screen of her Kimmunicator for a few more seconds, and then dropped it in her lap. Her mind was going a mile a minute after she had received this information from Wade.

_This is all just too… coincidental._ She thought, and then took a breath after realizing she had been holding it ever since she had shut off the communications device. _It's going to happen again tonight. I know it. This Ginny…She… She… is going to call again. What do I say? What do I do? Or should I even answer? It could be someone playing a very sick joke… but why? _Kim then picked the device up again and stared at the unit, as if she was trying to glean information from the piece of plastic and metal.

"Aaauughh!" The redhead almost screamed out loud, and tossed the unit back onto the bed with a bit more force than she had planned as it bounced onto the floor. "This is driving me nuts! I can't be speaking to someone who is… who is a… ghost? Can I?"

"Kimmie?" The teenager heard her mother call up from below her bedroom entrance. "Are you OK dear?"

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine." She replied in a calm voice trying to hide her frustration, what with everything that was coming into play. She had both answered her mother and retrieved the Kimmunicator all while leaning over the edge of the bed. "OK… you better get some sleep."

"Sure mom. Anything you say."

Her Mom's statement was easier said than done. Her mind kept racing, thinking, calculating like a super computer at the space lab. This was one sitch that wasn't going to get the best of her. There had to be a perfectly logical explanation to everything that was going on. And yet, one of the things that disturbed Kim the most, was that she thought she had forgotten something important.

Finally exhaustion reigned supreme, and Kim did eventually fall into a disturbing sleep. For a while.

…x x x x…

bwweeep

bweeep

beep

dwweeep

At 2:13am Kim's eyes snapped open, and her hand snatched the strangely beeping Kimmunicator. She mashed down the button, before the caller could say anything and spoke, "Ginny… I need to ask you something before you say anything… Are you… dead?"

"Yes." Was the simple answer, and Kim turned as white as her bed sheet.

"This… isn't a joke… is it…" Kim's words were more of a statement than a question.

"I need help with finding something. I hope you…" Once again the connection started to fuzz a bit.

"Ginny… I'm losing you… What is it you need me to find?"

"I can't rest without it Kim! I hope you can find it… (static) I need it… before it's too late!"

"Can you tell me where it is, or at least where to look? Or even what it is?" Kim quickly said.

Ginny's answer was short, cryptic, and confusing to the redhead. "You'll know when you see it… MMP… TH… 2… (static) Please Kim… My time is running shor…" The connection again went to static.

"What the heck does that mean?" Kim said to herself. "MMP-TH-2?"

Her head flopped onto the pillow, and Kim lay there for a good one to two hours with her mind not willing to even entertain the thought of sleeping. When she finally did fall asleep, her alarm seemed to go off just mere minutes later.

Her alarm was set for radio, and Kim's eyes cracked open to the morning news. "Good morning Middleton… It is now 7:30, time for the morning weather and news. First, we are in for a deluge of rain, starting this afternoon… As if we haven't had enough over this past week. The clouds are getting thicker as we speak, and the forecast is that we will get at least 2-3 inches more of the wet stuff making this the wettest October on record. But after this, the weather models are showing a much drier weather pattern. So be careful out there today. Canals and rivers will be full, and remember… if you come to a flooded road, turn around. Don't even think about crossing.

"Now on to political news… Governor-elect…" Kim's hand smashed down on the off button, cutting off the newsman. She groaned, rolled to the side of the bed, and swung her feet down to the floor. While still trying to clear her mind of sleep, the phone next to her bed rang.

"Hello…" She mumbled.

"Hey KP…" It was Ron. "Where were you yesterday? I waited for you to come by last night to go play miniature golf, but you never showed up."

Kim's hand went to the bridge of her nose. "Ohh, Mannn… I'm sooo sorry, Ron. I completely forgot. I was on a fact-finding mission for this… thing I have going on." She still didn't want to tell her best friend about possibly speaking with a ghost.

"No big… Just wish you could have called me though. Rufus was looking forward to playing." Kim could hear the disappointment in her best friend's voice, and she hated it.

"Tell the little guy I'll buy him a pound of Swiss later as an apology." Kim said as she stood and walked to the bathroom, phone in hand.

"Do you have plans for anything today?" Ron asked

"Not much… Just thought I would hang around here at the house this morning. I heard on the radio that there's a really big storm heading here. Thank goodness it will be the end to a soggy week." Kim picked at her tangled mess of hair while looking in the mirror.

"Yeah… I heard that too. I also heard the news say that Mount Middleton Park was going to be closed off at noon in case of flooding in the area from run-off from the mountain. That hasn't happened in like… years."

Kim's head snapped up. "Did you say...Mount Middleton Park, Ron?"

"Yeah… I haven't been there in quite a while. It used to be the biggest park around until Middleton became a large city, and then Middleton Central Park was built."

"There's trails all around that park, aren't there?" Kim asked, a plan formulating in her mind.

"Oh yeah… MCP has trails all over. Hiking, biking, jogging…"

"No Ron… I mean the other park." Kim responded a bit agitated at Ron's babbling.

"Oh… You mean MMP? Yeah. A lot of them are probably overgrown by now, but there are a few trails there. Why?"

"Ron… You're a genius!"

"Well, I am what I is…" Ron started to say.

"Can I talk to you later Ron?" Kim said, interrupting him again. "There's something I need to go check out real quick, then I'll call you back this afternoon. OK?"

"Oh… OK." Ron sounded a bit surprised. "I'll talk you later then. Bye."

"Bye…" she said, and they both hung up. She hated not telling Ron what was going on, but telling him she had been talking with a ghost on her Kimmunicator for the last few days just didn't seem like something you would tell your best friend over the phone.

_I'll tell him this afternoon._ She thought.

…x x x x…

After talking with Ron, Kim took a quick shower, got dressed, and had a light breakfast. She was then able to bum a ride from her neighbor, who took her to MMP… Mount Middleton Park.

"I'll be OK, Mrs. Mahoney. I can get a ride back in an hour or two." Kim said before shutting the door on her neighbor's SUV. She watched as the dark green vehicle drove out of the park.

Kim looked around the small parking lot, and her eyes fell on an old wooden map stand, in which the trails of the park were etched into a slab of wood. She walked over and began to study it. It didn't take long, and the other mystery of what Ginny had said fell into place. There, on the trail map, was Trail Head #2.

"MMP; Mount Middleton Park, TH-2; Trail Head #2." Kim said aloud to no one, and then proceeded towards the trail.

Sure enough it was an older trail, and was overgrown from neglect. The park had pretty much been forgotten by the Forest Service recently, as the park itself was running low on funds. She had heard once that it was slated to be bulldozed for new housing, but the town's Historical Society was able to get an injunction, essentially saving the old park. Now the city just had to come up with the funds to clean it up, and clear out the trails.

Kim pushed an overgrown branch out of her way, stepped into the heavily forested area, and tried to stay on the trail as long as she could. It wasn't long before the trail had completely disappeared. The young heroine wasn't worried though, as her Kimmunicator had an electronic compass, and she could easily find her way out. So she trudged on for a bit, not really knowing what she was looking for, but she was bound and determined to find it.

Ginny was counting on her.

With the sun light fading as a result of the dense trees overhead, Kim pushed her way through an area of solid undergrowth. It was kinda like a dense jungle, but with bushes and shrubbery knit close together instead of vines. Watching where she was placing her feet so as not to trip and fall, she hazarded a glance up to make sure that she was still on her original course when she caught some movement out the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if it was a play of shadows from the blocked sun, or something else.

"Hello?" Kim called out, her voice eerily not echoing one bit, and then she broke through the other side of the foliage. "Is… is someone there?"

Once again, she saw the flitter of something behind the trunk of a good-sized pine, and Kim picked up her pace now that she was free from the offending pieces of greenery. She called out a third time as her eyes picked up what seemed to be a small figure darting amongst the tall trees. Kim wasn't quite sure exactly what she was following as the figure seemed to blend in with the background, but she knew that she was following… something.

Without warning Kim burst into a small clearing and pulled up short. There, about 30 yards in front of her on the opposite side of the clearing, was a little girl who looked to be about 12 to 13 years of age.

"G… Ginny? Is… Is that you?" Kim said hesitantly but with emerald eyes wide open, not quite believing what she was seeing. A small shiver crossed her arms, and Kim wrapped them around herself, wishing she would have at least brought a light jacket.

The little girl gave a small giggle, and once again disappeared into the forest. The young heroine jogged across the small clearing, and as soon as her foot landed on the over-grown trail, something caught her foot and she went face first into the dirt. Her hands went up in an effort to protect her head and face, but she was a bit slow, and almost immediately her consciousness went black.

…x x x x…

When Kim finally came to, her vision was still black. She felt lost and as if there was no hope, as no light was to be found. She tried to move but couldn't. It was like her hands and feet were paralyzed. She tried to regain her bearings but her mind was still a bit fuzzy. Moving her fingers around Kim suddenly realized that her hands and feet were tied together. A rough, irritable voice suddenly spoke.

"So… you're finally awake."

There was an edge to the tone. A very sharp edge that she didn't recognize, and she could feel her heart race and blood pumping faster with each syllable spoken by this strange voice she didn't recognize. It reminded her of something. Almost like something that she had experienced only once in her life, but what was it? As the voice got closer, she could feel the hot breath on her face, and sweat bead on her forehead. Fear. It was fear she was feeling, and it cut through the haze in her mind like a hot knife through butter.

"Don't try to struggle my dear. You will only make things worse," the voice said right next to her ear and then turned away from her.

Kim went to open her mouth, but found that she also had a gag stuffed between her lips, and all she could do was mumble her response. Rough hands pulled at the cloth removing it, and before Kim could say anything, a scream escaped her lips that wasn't hers.

"Help! Someone help me… Please!"

It was Ginny's voice! Kim would recognize that voice anywhere as she had heard it on numerous occasions at 2:13 at night.

_What is going on here?_ She thought.

Kim then realized that her hands were tied at the wrists in front of her, and her feet were tied together at the ankles as well. She felt the rough hands remove the blindfold, and light stabbed into her dilated pupils like a close up camera flash, causing her to blink rapidly while trying to see who it was that had bound and gagged her.

Before she could see what was going on, the next sensation she felt was those same rough hands untying her ankles. What is this guy going to do? Kim thought, but then she realized the thought wasn't completely hers. It was a very strange feeling.

Her eyes were finally able to focus and Kim saw someone she didn't recognize, and yet she did. It was almost a sense of déjà vu, but it was also that strange feeling that the thought wasn't completely hers.

The man started to inch his face closer to hers again, and she felt a hand rubbing along the side of her leg. Realizing what might happen if she didn't fight back, she felt her hands clench together in a double fist and then felt them swing up and into the man's nose! He stumbled back cursing and grabbing at his face, and she could see a bit of blood running down his chin.

With no time to celebrate the damage she had inflicted, Kim felt herself rolling to one side, and then lurch forward and out the side door of a van. As soon as her feet hit solid ground, her legs pumped and she ran headlong into the nearby forest trail.

Having been chased by thugs and villains before, Kim didn't feel any fear, but she sensed fear… a great deal of fear from… somewhere else. No it was from some**one** else. Her body continued to move forward with a mind all its own, and Kim saw that she was running off the edge of the trail and into a dense area of trees and bushes. Her arms, still tied at the wrists, went up in front of her face to protect it from the small branches she was running through. Kim could feel the branches whipping at her bare arms, causing numerous cuts and bruises.

Finally she felt herself slow down, and then lean against a large tree trunk. She was bent over and breathing hard, really hard. Running like this was taxing her muscles to their limits, as adrenalin pumped through her entire body. It was like running a marathon, but how could that be? She was in better shape than this.

Exhausted, tired, and simply worn out… Kim was finally able to take some time and try to figure out what was going on as she rested. Her head was swiveling back and forth, and she was still a bit disoriented from the movement of her eyes. It was almost as if she was seeing out of someone else's eyes.

_That's it!_ Kim suddenly thought. _I must be reliving something through someone's eyes. But…_ A thought then entered her mind. _Ginny… I'm reliving Ginny's… murder! And I can't do anything about it!_

The young heroine confirmed this when she tried to move an arm, but it stayed down at her side. Kim was just along for the ride, and she hated it. She hated every single moment of what was going on, and the helplessness ate at her.

Suddenly the sound of a twig snapping caused her head to twist to one side, and again she started to run, but this time in a different direction. She heard the man's rough voice calling out to her. "You're dead, girl… Dead!"

After only running for a few more feet, Kim felt her foot trip on something and she stumbled down to the leaf-covered ground. She rolled and then pushed herself up with her still tied hands. Tossing her hair to one side out of her eyes, Kim looked up and saw her attacker standing about twenty feet in front of her. His stance was wide, and he was breathing hard, most likely from chasing her. In one fist he held a small hand ax.

Kim then saw his hand raise that held the small ax, and before she could say or do anything, she saw it tumbling end over end directly at her! It rotated through the air as if it was moving in slow motion, and Kim tried to bring her arms up to block the flying weapon, but they stayed locked in front of her. Most likely Ginny couldn't move because of her fear.

Kim felt her eyes close milliseconds before the ax was buried into her…

…x x x x…

Suddenly Kim's eyes snapped open and she sat up from her lying position on the forest floor. She was drenched in sweat and the sudden movement caused her head to throb. She then brought a hand up to her forehead where the pain was emanating from. There Kim felt a large bump, and brought her hand down to see blood on her fingers. Looking around with a dazed feeling, she saw a fairly large rock with a small red spot from where her head had smacked into it.

Kim stayed sitting on the ground, and groaned for a bit, holding her head in her hands. She didn't feel nauseous, so she was pretty sure she didn't have a concussion. But it sure hurt like heck!

After a bit, the pain started to subside, and she began to once again look around to get her bearings. Off to her left she saw the glint of some kind of metal as a lone beam of sunshine broke through the thickening clouds above, and made its way through the trees overhead. It didn't last very long, but it was enough to know where to crawl.

Slowly Kim rocked herself forward onto all fours, and shuffled over to where she had seen the glint of metal. What she saw lying in a hole about 2 feet deep by 5 foot long and about 3 feet wide… was a partially buried skeleton that had been uncovered by he recent rains.

The skull was uncovered, along with part of the ribs, but the rest was covered in leaves and dirt. The glint of metal she had seen was a locket that was partially covered by leaves, with the chain still around the skeleton's neck. She could also see the rotted remains of clothing amongst the bones and dirt. Looking at the skull caused Kim to involuntarily suck in a breath and hold it for what seemed like an eternity.

In the middle of the forehead was a large gash, about the size of a blade on a small hand ax. One of Kim's hands went to the lump on her forehead where she had struck the rock, and remembered the images she had seen while unconscious.

"It wasn't just a dream." She said aloud to herself.

Carefully she leaned over, lifted the small locket, and turned it in her hand. On the back she saw two initials etched into the silver case: G. L.

"Oh, Ginny…" Kim breathed out.

She then carefully reached behind the neck of the skeleton, unlatched the chain, and removed the locket from the body. Kim popped open the locket, and inside was a picture of the woman Kim had spoken with yesterday, and a little girl who appeared to be about 8 years old. It was Ginny and her mother.

Closing her eyes, Kim felt tears falling down her cheeks as she wept for the dead girl, and her mother. _This is what she wanted me to find._ Kim thought as she wiped tears from her eyes with a dirty hand. _Her body, and her locket._

After a few more minutes of grieving, Kim wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and pulled the Kimmunicator from her pocket. She called Wade and told him to send authorities to her current location, and to bring a forensic unit.

She had found Ginny Larsen's body.

To be concluded with an epilogue…

* * *

So how's THAT for Alice going down the hole?

Also, the next update might happen a little quicker than planned, as I still want to get the entire story posted before Halloween…


	5. Epilogue

Whew! I made it and posted the last chapter before Halloween! Let me Say Thank-you once again to kt for adding her ideas, and for having me bring this forth as a Stand-Alone story. I know you've heard it before kt, but you ROCK!

Next, let me say Thank-you to everyone that left a review for the previous chapter: Katsumara, screaming phoenix, Earl Allison, Invader Johnny, CajunBear73, , readerjunkie, Mr. Wizard, and reader101w. As I've said before, y'all ROCK!

As for the Disclaimer: Same as it ever was…

Epilogue

When Kim asked Wade to contact the authorities, she had also asked him to call Ron, and Mrs. Larsen as well.

Now she was sitting with Ron underneath a small white pavilion that was erected to serve as a center of operations, and was drinking her third bottle of water. Kim still felt dehydrated from her ordeal, but was feeling better. One of the medical personnel that had arrived had already bandaged up her forehead, and she had a piece of white gauze taped over the wound. Mrs. Larsen was also under the tent, sitting at the same table with Kim and Ron, and she too was drinking a bottle of water.

Not a word was spoken by the trio as they watched personnel quickly moving about the area, keeping the media at bay, and coordinating the exhumation of the body.

Dark clouds were starting to roll in again, and there was a light sprinkle starting to come down. The predicted final storm was indeed coming in, as the weatherman had said.

"You sure you're feeling OK, KP?" Ron asked watching her as she had been gently touching the bandage on her forehead a couple of times.

"Yeah, I'm fine Ron. I was just thinking about something." In actuality, Kim was still trying to wrap her mind around what had happened to her. Witnessing a person's murder from the victim's point of view had taken more out of her than going several rounds with Shego.

"You want to talk about it?" Ron asked, looking at her with concern.

"No… not yet, but I probably will in a couple of days though. I… just need to work things out myself first." Kim placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "You're a good friend Ron, and as soon as I'm ready to talk, you'll be the first person I call." Ron couldn't help but smile.

Reaching into her pocket, Kim pulled out the Kimmunicator, and said to no one in particular, "I can't believe all this started because of you." She looked at the device like it was something more than just a communications unit. It was almost like… no she wasn't going to go there.

"What's that?" Ron asked, ignoring Kim's strange words. He then pointed at something that was dangling from her finger. She had inadvertently snagged the locket when she pulled the Kimmunicator from her pocket.

"Oh my… I… almost forgot about that." Kim exclaimed and then turned to Dolores. "Mrs. Larsen?"

"Yes, Kimberly?" The older woman said after taking another swallow of water.

"I… found this with Ginny, and I think she wanted you to have it." Kim held up the locket.

Mrs. Larsen gasped, and held her hand out across the table. Kim gently placed the piece of jewelry in her palm. "Oh, Ginny…" She said under her breath, and then spoke louder directly to Kim "I had given this locket to her on the morning of her disappearance." She popped open the locket, and fondly gazed at the picture inside. A single tear fell from the corner of one of her eyes.

"You two loved each other very much, didn't you?" Kim asked as the tears began to flow from Mrs. Larsen's eyes. All she did was nod and gently nibble at her lower lip.

Almost in unison the two stood, leaned across the table and gave each other a hug the best they could with a table between them. Ron just sat there looking at the two pouring out their emotions and scratched his head. He never could understand how women could do that.

…x x x x…

Red lights flashed on the ambulance, but the sirens stayed silent, since there was no need to rush back to the hospital with its cargo. As the emergency vehicle left the scene, Kim, Ron, and Mrs. Larsen held onto each other, watching it slowly leave.

Just as the vehicle pulled onto the highway, all three heard a shout. "Landslide! Everybody look out!"

A small area on the side of the mountain, directly above where Ginny's body had been found, had been saturated with rainwater to the point that it now released a small area of land. It wasn't enough to reach over to where the three stood, but a pair of workers who were still at the exhumation site came running out of the trees faster than rabbits chased by a fox. About two or three tons of material slid down the hill and completely covered the site of the shallow grave.

It was then Kim realized, if she hadn't found the body when she did… the slide would have completely covered the area and Ginny would have never been found.

Suddenly the Kimmunicator sounded off with that strange drawn-out version of its normal tune.

Bweep

Bweep

Bee

Dweep

"I've never heard your Kimmunicator do that before." Ron said, pointing at the Kimmunicator. "Maybe there's something wrong with it?"

"No Ron…" Kim said with a smile, knowing that she wouldn't hear those four drawn-out notes ever again. "It's working just fine."

The end…


End file.
